Winchester Model 1911 Semi-Automatic Shotgun
With the break from John Browning still fresh T.G. Bennett, Winchester’s managing director, asked T.C. Johnson, Winchester’s chief designer, to develop a semi-automatic shotgun to rival Browning’s Auto-5/Remington Model 11 – the gun that Winchester had declined to buy from the Browning brothers.
Designing a gun that avoided infringing Browning’s patents proved no easy feat. Johnson eventually spent over five years developing the Model 1911. Johnson’s shotgun used the same long-recoil principle as Browning’s design but Browning’s patent protected the Auto-5’s cocking handle, so the Model 1911 had to be cocked by grasping a chequered section on the barrel itself and pulling it backwards. Johnson was also forced to use fibre recoil washers instead of a conventional recoil spring - which was protected by Browning’s patents.
Contemporary advert for the Winchester Model 1911 (source)
The Model 11′s cocking method led to a somewhat dangerous and questionable manual of arms where the user would hold the gun with right hand and pull the barrel backwards with the left. Some users, however, found it easier to place the butt of the gun on the ground and use their weight to pressed down on the barrel, this led to a number of injuries and fatalities during loading and unloading. The Model 1911 quickly gained an unwanted nickname ‘The Widowmaker’. The Model 1911 was offered first in 12 gauge (and later 16 and 20 gauge) and had a 5 shell tube magazine beneath the barrel.
Despite Winchester’s best efforts the Model 1911 was only a moderate success and failed to beat Browning’s design in the marketplace. Not only was the Model 1911 expensive, costing $38, it also had problems with its fibre recoil washers breaking down which meant the shotgun’s recoil could become painfully strong. While the Auto-5 remained in continuous production for almost a century, Winchester discontinued the Model 1911 in 1925 after producing just over 82,000.
Sources:
Images: 1 2 3
‘Recoil-Operated Firearm‘, T.C. Johnson, US Patent #768665, 30/08/1904, (source)
Winchester Repeating Arms Company 1865-1981, H.A. Houze, (2004)
The History of Winchester Firearms 1866-1992, T. Henshaw, (1993)
Winchester: The Gun That Won the West, H. F. Williamson. (1952)
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